This invention relates to a cuvette or cell for optical measurements on liquid samples for use as a flow-through or suction cell.
Such cells are used, for instance, in automatic analysis machines in order to receive different solutions one after the other by controlled suction and thus bring them into the optical path of a photometer.
In devices of the character indicated, the measurement channel is usually cylindrical and of relatively small volume, to permit analysis measurement on a small sample quantity, the flat ends of the cylinder being necessary for passage of external radiation through the sample in the measurement channel. But such cylindrical shape does not assure a bubble-free filling, nor does it avoid contamination of one sample by the preceding sample, when different solutions are measured in succession.
Cells of this type are known in which a bubble-free filling is assured by additional chambers connected in front of, behind or parallel to the measurement channel. However, these surface-increasing measures in their turn favor contamination and increase the minimum amount of substances for the measurement, since these at least partially filled additional chambers are not traversed by the radiation. Furthermore, the large number of hollow spaces required for the additional chambers increases the cost of production of such cells.